Carey Orr cartoons, 1915-1937

  • IdentificationMidwest MS Orr
  • TitleInventory of the Carey Orr Cartoons, 1915-1937 Midwest.MS.Orr
  • PublisherThe Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts
  • RepositoryThe Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts
  • Physical Description1.0 linear feet (16 items in 1 oversize box)
  • Date1915-1937
  • Location1 30 7
  • AbstractSixteen political cartoons by Pulitzer Prize winning-artist Carey Orr.
  • OriginationOrr, 1890-

Provenance unknown.

The Carey Orr Cartoons are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Carey Orr Cartoons are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Carey Orr Cartoons, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Shannon Yule, 2007.

This inventory was created with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

American editorial cartoonist, 1960 Pulitzer Prize winner.

Carey Orr was born in Ada, Ohio on Jan. 17, 1890. Interested in cartooning from a young age, Orr used money earned as a semi-professional baseball pitcher to enroll in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. After completing his arts training, Orr began his journalism career at the Chicago Examiner, and in 1914, joined the Nashville Tennessean as a full-time editorial cartoonist. Having established a national reputation by 1917, Orr went to work for the Chicago Tribune, where his political cartoons appeared on the front page until he retired in 1963. Orr’s subjects included organized crime, government corruption, prohibition, communism, and the New Deal.

In 1918, the United States Government awarded him a gold medal for his World War I drawings and in 1960, Orr was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a cartoon that warned of the spread of communism to the African Congo.

Orr married Cherry Maud Kindel on March 25, 1914, and they had two daughters, Dorothy Jane and Cherry Sue. He died May 16, 1967.

This collection consists of sixteen original political cartoons dating from Orr's early career, concerning World War I, the Depression, crime in Chicago, and free speech.

Syracuse University holds a significant collection of cartoons by Carey Orr.

Materials arranged chronologically.

  • NamesOrr, 1890-
  • Subject
    • Arts
    • Chicago
    • Journalism
    • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
    • World politics -- Caricatures and cartoons -- History -- 20th century
  • Geographic CoverageUnited States -- Politics and government -- 20th century -- Caricatures and cartoons